Senate passes more spending bills, but Homeland Security dispute looms
[January 16, 2026]
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is halfway home in approving government
funding for the current budget year that began Oct. 1 after the Senate
on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a three-bill package.
Now comes the hard part. Lawmakers still must negotiate a spending bill
for the Department of Homeland Security amid soaring tensions on Capitol
Hill after the shooting of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agent.
Lawmakers are working to complete passage of all 12 annual spending
bills before Jan. 30, the deadline set in a funding patch that ended a
43-day government shutdown in November. With the Senate's action on
Thursday, six of those bills have now passed through both chambers of
Congress. The measure before the Senate passed by a broadly bipartisan
vote of 82-15. It now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into
law.
That recent success would greatly reduce the impact of a shutdown, in
the unlikely event that there is one at the end of January, since
lawmakers have now provided full-year funding for such agencies as the
Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior and Justice.
Lawmakers from both parties are determined to prevent another lapse in
funding for the remaining agencies. The House's approval of a separate
two-bill package this week nudges them closer to getting all 12 done in
the next two weeks.
“Our goal, Mr. President is to get all of these bills signed into law.
No continuing resolutions that lock in previous priorities and don't
reflect today's realities,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican
chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “No more disastrous
government shutdowns that are totally unnecessary and so harmful.”
ICE shooting inflames debate on funding
The biggest hurdle ahead is the funding bill for the Department of
Homeland Security. The plan was to bring that bill before the House this
week, but Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee, said the decision was made to pull the bill and “buy some
time” as lawmakers respond to the Minneapolis shooting.
Democrats are seeking what Rep. Rosa DeLauro called “guardrails” that
would come with funding for ICE.
“We can't deal with the lawlessness and terrorizing of communities,”
said DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
“We're going back and forth with offers, and that's where we are.”
Trump's deportation crackdown, focused on cities in Democratic-leaning
states, has incensed many House Democrats who demand a strong
legislative response. Last week, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officer shot and killed Renee Good in a shooting that federal officials
said was an act of self-defense but that the mayor described as reckless
and unnecessary.
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The U.S. Capitol is seen at sunset, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Some 70 Democrats have signed onto an effort to impeach Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Others are seeking specific changes to
how the agency operates, such as requiring ICE agents to wear body
cameras.
“There are a variety of different things that can be done that we have
put on the table and will continue to put on the table to get ICE under
control so that they are actually conducting themselves like every other
law enforcement agency in the country, as opposed to operating as if
they’re above the law, somehow thinking they’ve got absolute immunity,”
said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which includes nearly 100
Democratic members, formally announced opposition to any funding to
immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland
Security "unless there are meaningful and significant reforms to
immigration enforcement practices.”
Looking for a solution
Cole said any changes to the Homeland Security funding bill would need
sign-on from the White House. He said one possible answer would be to
let Democrats have a separate vote on the Homeland Security bill. If
passed, it would then be combined with some other spending bills for
transmittal to the Senate. Republicans used a similar procedural tactic
to get a previous spending package over the finish line in the House.
The options for Democrats on Homeland Security are all rather bleak. If
Congress passes a continuing resolution to fund the agency at current
levels, that gives the Trump administration more discretion to spend the
money as it wants.
Meanwhile, any vote to eliminate funding for ICE won't stop massive sums
from flowing to the agency because Trump's tax cut and border security
bill, passed last summer, injects roughly $170 billion into immigration
enforcement over the next four years.
Also, any vote to eliminate funding could put some Democrats in tough
reelection battles in a difficult position this fall as Republicans
accuse them of insufficiently supporting law enforcement.
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